Friday, January 29, 2016

Ask...and you shall receive and receive and receive!

***WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS NEVER BEFORE SEE FOOTAGE OF MY DAD AND HIS HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE! IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH AND OR TOO NOSY NOT TO LOOK AWAY...GET YOUR TRASH CAN OUT! ***

Oh goodness friends! It's been two LONG, excitement filled years since I have updated this blog. What a slacker... so without further adieu...

Let me start with a {long, drawn out} short synopsis of the last two years of my life.

November 2013- Packed up our lives and moved to Florida for Steven to attend school.

February 2014- Got a great job being a nurse manager of a liposuction clinic. Best job I ever had. Miss those jokers dearly!

June 18, 2014- I received a text from my mom that something happened to my dad and she would call me when she knew details...NOT. Called her immediately and knew just as immediately that something was very wrong, with next to no real information. I dropped everything at work, went home and packed, rented a car and (flew) drove to Charleston. I asked my mom not to call and tell me any news as I did not know if I could make it back knowing. She complied and at 2:45 AM I walked into Trident Medical Center to be told that he was barely alive and I should get to his bedside immediately (Insert my own heart attack here). The whole scene is a blur. All that I can recall is walking down a main corridor lined with people. Lots of people. Some that I knew and some that I didn't. At the end stood my mom and Jaime both in complete shock. I don't know where my mom went but Jaime went back to dads room with me. Without rehashing the entire story, I went to by dad and had the talk that I have seen so many people have before. I got up in my dads face and told him that if he was waiting on me to get there, and it was His appointed time, that he could go. I promised to take care of my mom and siblings yada yada ya. Jaime piped up behind me "Nah ah dad, that is NOT what God said, she is saying that. You come back here right now"! We couldn't help but laugh as I turned around and exclaimed "hey this is my end of life talk fool, go on now"! At that point the nurse Kiki had been pulling large amounts of arterial blood from dads chest cavity with no hope of leak reformation. I assessed the situation from a medical standpoint and saw that he was DEAD but for the ventilator and 13 IV drips keeping his blood pumping and lungs breathing. I {whispered} in his face "okay dad, if this is not your time to go, then I am taking you by the figurative nape of the neck and we are going to fight this until you walk out of here. (Interject look from Kiki that said "yeah right girl"! I proceeded to the lobby where I told everybody sitting there about an old night shift wives tale. Its said that if a patient makes it till 4AM they have bought themselves another day of life. I watched as we all looked at the clock. It was 3AM. At the same time my papa had been taken to the emergency room for chest pain. So I proceeded to walk the halls of Trident from ICU to ER and back and forth and back and forth until my ankles slightly resembled soft balls. In reality it was hours. For anyone left in the free world that doesn't know the rest of the story, please see my Face book for many, many day by day accounts of......The Rest of the Story! The long and short of that is that I spent 17 days and 17 nights in the ICU waiting room. BIG shout out here to my girls and boys at Trident, which consequently is where I am now employed, for their awesome care of my dad, Jaime, Jana, Josh, mom and most importantly ME! haha. Anyway I left and went back to close out my life in Florida with the immediate knowledge that I would be moving straight back here to my mother and father as soon as Steven graduated. So from August until November I drove back and forth every 4 days to be with my family. Another big shout out to my precious husband who didn't see me but about 4 seconds of 2014! Thanks boo. At any rate, with my dad's permission and blessing, I am going to show a few of the pictures from his journey. Keep in mind that he was chillin in Heaven during this time and feeling NO pain. Maybe I should have been taking selfiescuz we were STRugglin!

Closest thing to a Gamecock I could find in the gift shop. He caught hell over this chicken! haha (daughter of the year award...right here!)

Poor Nana and Papa being wheeled out of the hospital after papa was discharged from the ER with a diagnosis of "Broken Heart". That is without a doubt the most heart wrenching thing I will ever see. =(

Dad gained over 80 lbs in two days, due to the freezing and thawing out of his body, in order to preserve his heart and brain. Now maybe some will understand us not wanting visitors back to see him. It was excruciatingly hard to endure seeing him look like that.

I may or may not have taken advantage of his coma to take a few blackmail pics! =0 Nothing he wouldn't have done to me!

Our 4TH Celebration

Getting a little better here. This was the day that we noticed his smile was off and he wasn't moving his right side as much. They scanned his head the next day and confirmed that he had suffered a massive left sided stroke.

Mom holding on for dear life

Daddy and two of his girls

Napping at his bedside

From (literally DEAD), to very much alive! Thank you Jesus!!!

Thank God his promises are YES and AMEN.

And He's BACKKKKKKK!

So that about covers 2014 in a nutshell. I thought...just thought that I could not ever know exhaustion like that again...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES.

Lets skip on to 2015- We moved back to Charleston (where we live currently) to help my mom and dad. To say that babies were the last thing on my mind, would be the understatement of the century. After all you have to have relations to have babies and that was something 2014 did not offer me much of! Unless God was on a miracle roll, that wasn't in our foreseeable future. Things were moving right along. I was decorating a new house (AGAIN), taking dad back and forth to therapy and just moving right along when it happened. One day in March I got a text from a friend that she saw a post on Face book about a girl giving up a baby for adoption. She said she thought I should look into it. "Just a feeling" she said. Little did she know, we were already in the beginning stages of adopting a baby girl. I had already retained an attorney and gotten the process started. I thought, well first of all, who the heck adopts a baby off of Facebook? I mean really? I went to check out this post and it was magically gone. So I decided to friend request this person and find out the deal. I emailed her and didn't think much more of it. She responded a short time later and told me that she was friends with a girl that was looking for a family to adopt her son who was due in MAY! Everybody that knows me, knows I love some instant gratification and a good challenge so...here we went! After speaking to this liaison several more times, she asked me to call the birth mother and said that she wanted to meet me. So at 10 PM that night, I called her. And immediately fell in love with her. Steven and I drove to Atlanta that weekend and took her out to lunch to spend some time with her. I asked Steven if he was ready, and if he was sure. He said yeah, lets do this. So after much drama of which I will not bore you with, a month and a half later I got the call. This I should mention was 2 weeks before her due date. I was in Georgetown visiting my grandaddy in ICU with six broken ribs, my uncle Theron post heart attack, and my grandmother who had been sent to Alcatraz rehab. I spent all day on the road, got home, showered and got into bed, took an Ambien and laid down for a long, good nights sleep...except I had the inclination to call the birth mom and check up on her. I had been preoccupied with the rest of my family trying to die and hadn't spoken to her in several days. As soon as she answered the phone I knew. UH OH. So to say the least I was the walking dead, throwing stuff in bags, and into the car. Calling Jaime and my parents who were following closely behind us, throwing baby stuff in a bag not knowing how long we would be there. I don't honestly remember 90% of that night. All I know is that I "Krammered" into the delivery room with 5 minutes to spare.

May 25th, 2015

The sweetest, most beautiful thing I could have imagined seeing, and he was OURS!

The most precious love I'll ever know.

The necklace I got Owens birth mother

Our first selfie!

Daddies warming up!

It may be TMI but I was able to induce lactation and breast feed Owen for a few weeks. Under the circumstances It didn't last but I'm hoping I can do the same thing with Oli.

And this is how the story of Owen Lawrence Elliott came to be. Some may call it being at the right place at the right time... I call it God! I still speak to Owens biological mother on a weekly basis and send her pictures and updates on his growth and development. People often ask me if this is weird. The simple answer is no, not at all. I would have probably never consented to an open adoption under normal circumstances, but in usual Jessica fashion, there is nothing normal about this. I love him mother dearly and can never thank her enough for letting us have the honor of having and raising this baby. She will forever and always be a part of our lives. So thank you to Owen's birth mother for being selfless enough to give us the most precious gift we will ever receive. You have guts and tenacity that there aren't many women left with these days. We love you so much and thank you for giving us Owen to love and raise as our own.

I feel like I haven't missed out on anything. He is mine weather or not he looks like me or acts like me (coincidentally he does act like his mama), has any of my blood or genes. He is all mine and I am forever grateful to God Almighty for answering my prayers and giving us such a special gift that out family needed so desperately at the time. I enjoy and soak up every single second of him. He is my whole wide world, no doubt about it, and I have some close competition with glama and papa, and aunt Daime and aunt DanDan. I feel like my life truly is complete now, except that whole nuther brother we gettin in April. I cannot disclose any details about Oliver or his story due to adoption confidentiality and the like. I will probably be able to elaborate at a later date on him but as of this time, his story is clandestine! His name is Oliver because we like it and Flyn is a combination of my middle name Lyn and maiden name Floyd in honor of my dad and my Papa.

So that is the shortest update I can conceivably give for the cluster that my life has been over the past two years. Any questions? Don't bother because I doubt I can remember enough to answer them appropriately! lol.

Again thanks so much to everybody that helped us physically, financially, emotionally and through your prayers for us over the past seven long, unyielding years. We could not have done this without the support of our friends and families!

As for 2016- My papa died in December of 2015. I am so thankful that he got to meet Owen and get to know him at least a little bit before he made his celestial exit. While he won't know Oli, he did get to see him once and knew that he was a boy and that his name would be Oliver.

As of this moment, I am a mommy of one busy, adorable, personality filled baby boy that I wouldn't trade for the world, and expecting another prince to steal my heart in April. We are overjoyed to finally have a little family of our own! =)

Come on baby long legs!

***Please continue to pray for my dad's complete healing, for our second adoption, and for my Nana as she has a go at life alone after 70 years with Papa.

We love and miss you Papa T!***

So I'll update this as I can find a free 30 seconds to do so. I make no promises but I would, in all seriousness, like to keep up with the blog for my boys sake. NO baby book necessary here, their lives pre, during and post are all posted for all the world to see!

Hope you all have a great week! Remember, miracles do still happen! #miracleman #miraclebabies

I am a registered nurse in the ICU. I am obsessed with my dogs, Gus and Gracie and my son Owen. I love God and I'm a southern republican. I hate green beans, body odor and Clemson. That about covers it! Oh yeah, and I have a gorgeous husband that spoils me rotten!=)

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about me

I am a registered nurse in the ICU. I am obsessed with my dogs, Gus and Gracie and my son Owen. I love God and I'm a southern republican. I hate green beans, body odor and Clemson. That about covers it! Oh yeah, and I have a gorgeous husband that spoils me rotten!=)